Feb 042023
 
 February 4, 2023  Posted by at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Henri Matisse Olive trees at Collioure 1906

 

Building A New World Order Is Now An Existential Issue For Russia (Trenin)
US-China War By 2025: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? (Fomenko)
Pentagon Allows Ukraine To Fire Long-range Missiles At Will (RT)
Russia Responds To Latest US ‘Escalation’ (RT)
From Imperial Failures to Imperial Excuses (Batiushka)
UK MIlitary Could Run Out Of Ammo In Single Afternoon – Ex-commander (RT)
Serbia Names ‘Greatest’ Mistake By West (RT)
RAND Gets It, Sort Of (Helmholtz Smith)
The Arsenal of Democracy Isn’t (Schryver)
Sanctions On Russian Oil Not Working – Analysts (RT)
Lose-Lose (Jim Kunstler)
Republicans to Force Nancy Pelosi to Testify About Jan 6 (TP)
Musk Wins Lawsuit Over ‘Funding Secured’ Tweet (ZH)
Thai Princess Coma Mystery – World Expert Says It’s A Covid Jab Injury (DTNZ)
Biden Announces U.S. Surrender To Chinese Balloon (BBee)

 

 

 

 

OH SH*T, HERE WE GO (MacGregor)

 

 

 

 

What Becomes of NATO After The Loss In Ukraine

 

 

 

 

Trump Ukraine

 

 

 

 

“..a defeat – if it is hypothetically possible – could provoke a destabilization of the country, accompanied by the disintegration of Russian statehood.”

Building A New World Order Is Now An Existential Issue For Russia (Trenin)

Let us begin by assessing the current situation. One effect of the conflict has already been a fundamental change in the external environment in which Russia finds itself. Its political relations with the collective West, and its allies, have become openly hostile and the armed conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war by the West against Russia. Economic relations with this part of the world have been permanently undermined and are shrinking like Mars bars. Cultural, scientific, sporting and humanitarian ties have been severely curtailed, the information war has reached maximum intensity, and the Iron Curtain in Europe has been rebuilt – this time by the West. However, Russia is not completely isolated. It maintains and develops partnerships in many areas with the world’s new centers of power, and other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This part of the world community includes most of the world’s states, where the majority of the human population lives and where more than half of the global economy is concentrated. It can rightly be called a world majority with the clear understanding, of course, that this majority is not a bloc and that its members are not allies of Russia. They are guided primarily by national interests and are deeply integrated into the global economy and the Western-centric institutions that serve it, which significantly limits interaction with Moscow. The dramatic shift in the external cycle has led to profound changes within Russia. The old model of mainly exporting raw materials and importing technology no longer works. The political system, which was built on liberal American-French models and then adapted more or less successfully – in substance, not in form – to domestic traditions, is obviously in need of a profound overhaul.

The quasi-ideology of pragmatism and the cult of money, which dominated the country after the collapse of the USSR, proved to be flawed and harmful. In short, the end of the historical orientation towards integration with the Western world logically requires Russia to reorient itself. But what does this mean? To which “self”? Soviet, tsarist or otherwise? A prerequisite for Russia’s long-term strategy is victory in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The most important criterion for such a victory is a state that is guaranteed not to lead to a renewed war after some time. On the contrary, a defeat – if it is hypothetically possible – could provoke a destabilization of the country, accompanied by the disintegration of Russian statehood. The stakes for Russia in the current conflict are therefore existential and fundamentally higher than those of the US and its allies. This in itself is a factor working in Russia’s favor, but it certainly does not guarantee its success.

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“..It also sees the competition catching up, however, and is ready to use all means necessary, and to take massive risks, to prevent the rise of rival powers. ”

US-China War By 2025: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? (Fomenko)

American Four-Star General Mike Minihan, head of the US Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC) believes the US and China will go to war by 2025. “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” Minihan reportedly wrote in a memo to his officers, obtained by media outlets. The message instructs AMC personnel to train and get their affairs in order so that they are “legally ready and prepared.” This prediction is the most direct and blunt yet from an American official on the prospect of a potential conflict between the US and China, besides President Joe Biden’s indications that the US would intervene on the side of Taiwan if China invaded.

Of course, Minihan is not a policymaker, and the memo is not an official statement of US military policy towards China. But the influence of the US military and by extension, the military-industrial complex, on US foreign policymaking and on the mood in Washington in general, should not be underestimated. The reality is, especially as seen in Ukraine, that the risk of a major-power conflict is arguably at the highest it has ever been since the end of World War II or the height of the Cold War. That is because the US sees itself as a rightful and permanent global hegemon. It also sees the competition catching up, however, and is ready to use all means necessary, and to take massive risks, to prevent the rise of rival powers. As such, the US and China risk falling into the so-called, “Thucydides Trap,” which is described as “an apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon”.

The current distribution of power in the world is described as “emerging multipolarity”. Following three decades of American unipolarity, when the US ruled unchallenged, a number of emerging powers are changing the international order. Multipolarity differs from “bipolarity,” where two powers compete for hegemony, the best known example being the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. While bipolarity brings a form of stability, as the military capabilities of both powers are evenly matched and the stakes of a potential conflict are extremely high, history shows multipolarity typically brings instability as it creates an insecure, unpredictable, and competitive international environment. The world of 1914, where a theatre of competing European powers scrambled for international dominance, ultimately combusted into the First World War. As competing world powers expanded their imperialist ambitions, they sought to contain others by forming alliances and starting arms races.

Sounds familiar? It should. Today’s world has some disturbing parallels. The US – an insecure hegemon whose relative power is diminishing as other world powers emerge – is desperately seeking to degrade, undermine and contain its rivals by triggering arms races and expanding alliance systems. Already, the focus on expanding NATO has provoked the conflict in Ukraine, but worse still, the Biden administration is actively seeking to expand that model to East Asia against China, in the form of blocs such as the Quad and AUKUS.

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“..Moscow will “push back” the Ukrainian troops to a range at which they will not be a threat.”

Pentagon Allows Ukraine To Fire Long-range Missiles At Will (RT)

It is up to the government in Kiev to decide how to use the new rockets for the US-supplied HIMARS launchers, the Pentagon said on Friday, confirming that the latest batch of munitions the American taxpayers are funding will include Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB).The Boeing-manufactured munitions consist of a rocket motor mated with an airplane bomb, with an estimated range of up to 150 kilometers. While Friday’s announcement listed “additional ammunition” for the HIMARS and “precision-guided rockets,” Brigadier-General Patrick Ryder told reporters that this indeed included the GLSDB, confirming the information leaked to Reuters earlier this week. Ryder also confirmed that the US won’t stand in the way of Ukrainians using the missiles to strike deep inside Russia.

“When it comes to Ukrainian plans on operations, clearly that is their decision. They are in the lead for those,” he said on Friday. “So, I’m not going to talk about or speculate about potential future operations, but again, all along, we’ve been working with them to provide them with capabilities that will enable them to be effective on the battlefield.” The GLDSB are produced by Boeing in cooperation with Swedish Saab AB, and combine the GBU-39 small-diameter bomb with the M26 rocket motor. It was unclear how many of the munitions the Pentagon intended to send, or whether they would come from the US military stockpile or need to be freshly produced. Reuters claimed to have seen a Boeing document saying the first deliveries could be “as early as spring 2023.”

Meanwhile, Bloomberg cited unnamed officials who said the timeline could be as long as nine months, depending on when the US Air Force issues the contract. Bloomberg also reported the GLSDB order would account for $200 million of the $1.75 billion in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding, referring to contracts for weapons and ammunition not coming out of the Pentagon stockpile. Whenever the missiles actually arrive, Russia has already hinted at how it will respond. On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin tasked the military with “eliminating any possibility” of Ukrainian artillery strikes on Russian territory. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview on Thursday that Moscow will “push back” the Ukrainian troops to a range at which they will not be a threat. “The longer range the weapons supplied to the Kiev regime have, the further the troops will need to be moved,” Lavrov said.

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“the longer range the weapons supplied to the Kiev regime have, the further the troops will need to be moved.”

Russia Responds To Latest US ‘Escalation’ (RT)

The decision to supply Ukraine with longer-range missiles marks a “deliberate escalation” by the United States, Russia’s ambassador to Washington has said, warning that Moscow would not tolerate strikes on Russian cities. In a statement on Friday evening, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov commented on the latest round of US military aid approved for Ukraine earlier in the day, which is set to include Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) – munitions with an operational range of 93 miles (150 kilometers). “Washington sees no boundaries in seeking to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. The transfer of increasingly powerful weapons to the Kiev regime is a deliberate escalation of the conflict by the United States,” he said, adding “Any attempt to harm the Russian Federation is doomed to failure. The sooner the United States realizes this, the sooner the current conflict will end.”

Though the Pentagon did not mention the GLSDB by name in announcing the weapons transfer, Brigadier-General Patrick Ryder later confirmed that it would be included in the next round of aid, also noting that US officials would not stop Kiev from using the missiles to strike inside Russia. Fired from the US-supplied HIMARS missile launcher, the GLSDB is among the longest-range weapons authorized for Kiev to date, and could theoretically reach targets deep within Russian territory. Antonov went on to say the United States is “de facto inciting its proteges to attack Russian regions,” arguing that Moscow makes no distinction between newer territories which voted to join the Russian Federation last year and other Russian lands.

“For us there is no difference when we talk about a possible attack by Kiev criminals on the Zaporozhye or Bryansk regions, the Crimea or the Smolensk region,” he continued. Though the new weapons could take up to nine months to reach the Ukrainian battlefield, Russia has already suggested how it might react, with President Vladimir Putin ordering the military to eliminate “any possibility” of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory earlier this week. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, said Russian forces would repel Ukrainian soldiers to a distance from which they would not pose a threat, declaring: “the longer range the weapons supplied to the Kiev regime have, the further the troops will need to be moved.”

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“..Only through such a crushing defeat for Western hubris can further crazy adventures, including nuclear ones, be avoided.”

From Imperial Failures to Imperial Excuses (Batiushka)

Western support for the Ukraine, the most corrupt country in Europe, has done nothing for America’s authority. It had already been undermined by war crimes, water-boarding, economic decline, a drugs epidemic, mass shootings, a trashed health system for 40 million in poverty and military debacles from Vietnam to Afghanistan. The ‘regime changes’, assassinations, electoral frauds, black propaganda (also called PR), massacres, torture in global black sites, proxy wars and military interventions carried out by the United States since 1945 have resulted in over 20 million dead and planetary revulsion for U.S. imperialism. ‘Yanks go home’. Blood lies on the US. Did they really expect to get away with this?

The conflict in the Ukraine is effectively World War III, or if you prefer, World War I, Part III. A proxy hot war between Washington and Moscow. Yes, the military phase is local, having started between Russia and the Ukraine in 2014. But the repercussions for Russia are enormous. They mark the end of a 300-year period when Russia was enamoured with the West. Now Western deceit means that Russians have lost their illusions and naivety for ever. Now Russia will fight on until the Armed Forces of Ukraine and all those who took up arms and have been fighting Russians for almost nine years are no longer a threat to anyone. The Kiev Army will be routed and Russia will return to its roots of over 300 years ago.

However, the political and economic repercussions for the Western world, held on a tight leash by its feudal US owner, are even more enormous: the end of the rule of the dollar. True, there are those who predict a second military phase between Iran and the US colony of Israel. And a third could be between China and the US, the pretext being the Chinese Ukraine, Taiwan. But nothing is certain. After the coming Russian victory in the Ukraine, all could still be averted, for that victory will be sobering for the Western world. This indeed is the last hope, that defeat here will at last bring the Western world back to its senses and reality. Only through such a crushing defeat for Western hubris can further crazy adventures, including nuclear ones, be avoided.

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“..British armed forces “are smaller and less ready to fight than at any time in living memory.”

UK MIlitary Could Run Out Of Ammo In Single Afternoon – Ex-commander (RT)

The UK could deplete its ammunition stocks in mere hours should it be drawn into large-scale fighting, a former British general warned on Thursday. This and other issues make the UK military unfit to be regarded as a “top tier” NATO member, he said. Retired General Richard Barrons, who formerly headed the UK’s Joint Forces Command, sounded the alarm in an op-ed published by The Sun in which he said the fighting force has been “hollowed out by spending cuts.” Barrons claimed that the British armed forces “are smaller and less ready to fight than at any time in living memory.” He also warned that the UK Army is on course to slip below 76,000 troops. However, even these service members often do not receive inadequate training, Barrons noted.

British tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery pieces mostly date to the previous century, while “years of cuts to ammunition production mean that, for some types of key weapons, the army would run out in a busy afternoon,” the general said. Barrons added that the Royal Navy and Air Force are “in better shape” and boast some “outstanding modern equipment,” but cautioned that without experienced personnel, ammunition, and spare parts they might turn out to be just a “glittering shop window” without much to show for it on the actual battlefield. The former commander said the UK should focus on Europe, arguing that the “tilt to Asia can wait.” He urged London to invest in modern capabilities, including drones, missiles, and cyber and electronic warfare capabilities.

Britain should also double its reserves to 60,000 troops, he said. Regarding Russia, Barrons estimated that to be able to handle a “surprise attack,” the British Army will need to spend “£3 billion ($3.67 billion) this year, and every year for the next ten years.” British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted in the House of Commons on Monday that the military has been “hollowed out and underfunded.” His comments followed a Sky News report alleging that a top US general had told Wallace that British forces are “barely tier two” in terms of fighting capabilities.

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“..the West’s “biggest” political mistake because it effectively manages to “unite the Russians like never before.”

Serbia Names ‘Greatest’ Mistake By West (RT)

The West’s recent announcement that it would be supplying Ukraine with main battle tanks marks a major miscalculation, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday. That’s as Moscow has threatened to burn any Western equipment that enters Ukraine and has vowed to retaliate “far beyond the scope of armored vehicles.” Vucic noted that the decision to supply Ukraine with tanks, especially with the “terrifying” German Leopard 2s, is the West’s “biggest” political mistake because it effectively manages to “unite the Russians like never before.” Last month, Germany and the US agreed to provide a number of heavy tanks to Kiev. Washington has promised between 30 and 50 of its M1 Abrams tanks, while Berlin pledged 14 Leopard 2A6s from the Bunderswehr’s own stocks.

An additional 51 of the same model and 88 of the older Leopard 1 model may also come from Rheinmetall as they get refurbished, Germany said. Berlin also gave the green light to countries that have expressed a desire to export their own Leopards to Ukraine. Those include Poland, Finland, Spain, Norway and the Netherlands. The UK and Canada have also said they would be sending their heavy equipment to Kiev. The decision has been heavily criticized by Russia, which has called it an “extremely dangerous” move that threatens to escalate the conflict in Ukraine. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin likened the new threat of “German Leopard tanks with crosses on their hulls” to the Soviet Union’s struggle against Hitler’s forces and warned that Moscow’s response would not be limited to weapons.

Other countries have also voiced their concerns about the West’s move. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the delivery of NATO tanks to Ukraine was a “high-risk endeavor” that would fail to help end the conflict and only “line the pockets of gun barons.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also slammed Germany’s decision, noting that these Western countries are “drifting” towards becoming active participants in the conflict. Orban has insisted that instead of arming Kiev, the West should be pursuing “a ceasefire and peace talks” in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly objected to Western weapon deliveries to Ukraine, arguing that non-stop arms shipments only serve to prolong the conflict and risk direct confrontation with NATO. The Kremlin has also insisted that no amount of military aid will prevent Moscow from reaching its objectives and warned that the tanks would “burn like the rest of Western weapons” supplied to Kiev.

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“morally repugnant Russian invasion”, “international community”, “illegitimate and illegal”, “aggression”, “humanitarian reasons”, “international norms.”

RAND Gets It, Sort Of (Helmholtz Smith)

A few years ago RAND put out a report Overextending and Unbalancing Russia. “This brief summarizes a report that comprehensively examines nonviolent, cost-imposing options that the United States and its allies could pursue across economic, political, and military areas to stress—overextend and unbalance— Russia’s economy and armed forces and the regime’s political standing at home and abroad.” One of the things recommended was exploiting Russia’s “greatest point of external vulnerability” by “providing lethal aid to Ukraine.” (Only someone as paranoid as Putin, of course, could see any hostility in this). Well, they did it and it’s time for a new RAND report – Avoiding a Long War.

To save you the bother of reading this trivial effort, I will summarize – they start with the usual posturing – “morally repugnant Russian invasion”, “international community”, “illegitimate and illegal”, “aggression”, “humanitarian reasons”, “international norms.” Then on to how Russia is losing – “Russia’s conventional capabilities have been decimated in Ukraine”, “the weakened state of Russia’s conventional military”, “It will take years, perhaps even decades, for the Russian military and economy to recover from the damage already incurred.” But, as you wade on, you begin to suspect that the authors aren’t as triumphant after all – perhaps victory is not quite so close “given the slowing pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensives in December 2022, restoring the pre-February 2022 line of control—let alone the pre-2014 territorial status quo—will take months and perhaps years to achieve” or even so certain “Continued conflict also leaves open the possibility that Russia will reverse Ukrainian battlefield gains made in fall 2022.”

The authors spend some space explaining why a long war is not to America’s advantage. So, RAND, they followed your advice but things aren’t going very well. Time to try and get out of it. “Since avoiding a long war is the highest priority after minimizing escalation risks, the United States should take steps that make an end to the conflict over the medium term more likely.”

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“..the US armaments industry is effectively a modestly scaled high-end boutique..”

The Arsenal of Democracy Isn’t (Schryver)

You see, for all its massive plunder of the public purse, the US armaments industry is effectively a modestly scaled high-end boutique. And there is simply no way this domestic US industry can expeditiously expand its production. It would literally take years – probably a full decade – for the US to expand its military production to a seriously potent industrial scale. For one, the labor pool for these industries is extremely finite and highly specialized. In the overwhelmingly financialized and service-oriented US economy, there is a shocking dearth of technical expertise of ALL kinds. It’s not simply a boomer cliché that “kids these days are innocent of almost any mechanical know-how”. If the US wants to staff new armaments factories any time soon, it will have to import the skilled labor from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

Beyond that, the permitting of new factories, with the attendant bureaucratic delays, public hearings, environmental impact studies, and various special interest road-blocking … well, everyone knows how these things work now in America. It took five years to build the Hoover Dam in the early 20th century. It would take FIFTY here in the early 21st century – if it could be built at all. Those clamoring for the US to intervene in the Ukraine war in order to “teach those filthy Russians a lesson they’ll never forget” simply have no conception of the catastrophe that would ensue were their dreams to be fulfilled. If the Pentagon consented to such an undertaking, it could probably amass no more than 250,000 combat-capable troops in the theater, and to do so would entail the evacuation of virtually every major US military base on the planet (and most of the minor ones).

It could probably assemble an additional quarter million troops from the active reserves and National Guard units in the United States. That said, it is empirically impossible that 500,000 combat troops could be satisfactorily equipped for high-intensity conflict such as would be the scenario in a war between the US and Russia in eastern Europe. And even if they could be assembled and equipped, it would be an insufficient force to face over a million Russian troops, close to a third of which are already “battle-hardened” from almost a year of high-intensity combat in Ukraine. In anticipation of the casualties attendant to great power warfare, it would become necessary for the United States to reinstitute conscription almost immediately. If a strong anti-war movement had not already been incited by its previous actions, conscription in America would almost certainly induce a widespread political upheaval, with large and aggressive public protests cropping up in all the major cities of the nation.

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“oil friendships are greasy”

Sanctions On Russian Oil Not Working – Analysts (RT)

Sanctions imposed by the West on Russian crude oil exports have so far “failed completely,” and new price caps could also prove ineffective, according to a CNBC report on Friday, citing analysts. The conclusions come as the European Union plans to ban imports of Russian refined petroleum products, including diesel and jet fuel, from February 5. The bloc had already prohibited imports of seaborne crude oil from Moscow in December. The EU, G7 countries, and Australia have also set a $60-per-barrel price cap, which blocks Western companies from providing insurance and other services to shippers of Russian oil unless the cargo is purchased at or below the set price. The price cap “was invented by bureaucrats with finance degrees. None of them really understand oil markets,” Paul Sankey, president and lead analyst at Sankey Research, told CNBC.

“It’s been a total bomb; it has failed completely,” he stressed. According to Sankey, Russian oil supplies have not been significantly interrupted and “they’ve sustained exports at high levels.” “I heard it from a great source that the Saudis have been asking around as to how come Russian oil is still flowing,” he said. “That brings the question of what will happen with the sanctions coming up on products, because it just doesn’t seem to work.” The founder of analytics firm Vanda Insights, Vandana Hari, also told the US broadcaster she was skeptical about the upcoming restrictions on Russian refined oil products, noting that “the crude price cap was pretty inconsequential.” “I think the refined product caps that they’re planning – about a $100 [per barrel] for diesel and clean products and perhaps around $45 for dirty fuels like fuel oil – are probably going to be immaterial as well,” the analyst explained.

According to Hari, Russian oil will find its way into the markets that are “still welcoming it” such as China and India. “China and India have benefited quite a big deal last year from heavily discounted Russian crude prices and the same’s going to happen to Russian refined products,” Hari predicted, adding that it could be more complicated for Moscow to find markets for such products. Paul Sankey also noted that “oil friendships are greasy” and there’s a lot of different ways to move Russian oil around the world, bypassing the price caps. Meanwhile, the EU has been struggling to agree on the price cap for Russian oil products, with some members reportedly claiming the proposed level is too generous for Moscow, and seeking a lower ceiling. The measures are expected to come into effect on February 5 after gaining the approval of all 27 EU member states.

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“..The USA has tossed its national identity on the garbage barge of “diversity, equity, and inclusion..”

Lose-Lose (Jim Kunstler)

For those of you not paying attention the past thirty-odd years, Russia, incorporated as the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991. The USSR was a bold experiment based on the peculiar and novel ill-effects of industrialism, especially gross economic inequality. Alas, the putative remedy for that, advanced by Karl Marx, was a despotic system of pretending that individual humans had no personal aspirations of their own. That business model could be reduced to the comic aphorism: We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us. It failed and the USSR gurgled down history’s drain. Russia reemerged from the dust, minus many of its Eurasian outlands. Remarkably little blood was shed in the process. Mr. Orlov’s book points to some very interesting set-ups that softened the landing. There was no private property in the USSR, so when it collapsed, nobody was evicted or foreclosed from where they lived.

Very few people had cars in the USSR, so the city centers were still intact and people could get around on buses, trams, and trains. The food system had been botched for decades by low-incentive collectivism, but the Russian people were used to planting gardens — even city dwellers, who had plots out-of-town — and it tided them over during the years of hardship before the country managed to reorganize. Compare that to America’s prospects. In an economic crisis, Americans will have their homes foreclosed out from under them, or will be subject to eviction from rentals. The USA has been tragically built-out on a suburban sprawl template that will be useless without cars and with little public transport. Cars, of course, are subject to repossession for non-payment of contracted loans. The American food system is based on manufactured microwavable cheese snacks, chicken nuggets, and frozen pizzas produced by giant companies.

These items can’t be grown in home gardens. Many Americans don’t know the first thing about growing their own food, or what to do with it after it’s harvested. There’s another difference between the fall of the USSR and the collapse underway in the USA. Underneath all the economic perversities of Soviet life, Russia still had a national identity and a coherent culture. The USA has tossed its national identity on the garbage barge of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” which is actually just a hustle aimed at extracting what remains from the diminishing stock of productive activity and giving the plunder to a mob of “intersectional” complainers — e.g. the City of San Francisco’s preposterous new plan to award $5-million “reparation” payments to African-American denizens of the city, where slavery never existed.

As for culture, consider that the two biggest cultural producers in this land are the pornography and video game industries. The drug business might be a close third, but most of that action is off-the-books, so it’s hard to tell. So much for the so-called “arts.” Our political culture verges on totally degenerate, but that is too self-evident to belabor, and the generalized management failures of our polity are a big part of what’s bringing us down — most particularly the failure to hold anyone in power accountable for their blunders and turpitudes. This might change, at least a little bit, as the oppositional House of Representatives commences hearings on an array of disturbing matters. Meanwhile, be wary of claims in The New York Times and other propaganda organs that our Ukraine project is a coming up a big win, and that the racketeering operations of the Biden family are a right-wing conspiracy theory. These two pieces of the conundrum known as reality are blowing up in our country’s face. It will be hard not to notice.

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“… Nancy, we’ll get you, and we’ll fly you back from Italy once you’re the ambassador.”

Republicans to Force Nancy Pelosi to Testify About Jan 6 (TP)

As the Biden Documents Scandal continues to build and the Chinese spy balloon over Montana dominates the headlines, some Republicans are still focused on holding Nancy Pelosi to account for the failures of security at the US Capitol on January 6th, failures to which they claim she is connected. One such Republican is Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who said: “The reason there wasn’t a proper security presence on that day goes right to the speaker’s staff and the speaker’s office. As you go back and look at the communications, there’s this pattern that develops where the Sergeant of Arms is meeting with Pelosi’s staff. Many of those meetings, Republican staff wasn’t allowed to be there, but they had this pattern where everything had to run through her office, her staff, before the Sergeant of Arms could make a decision.”

Joining Rep. Jim Jordan was Rep. Troy Nehls, who said “And Nancy Pelosi. You do have questions you need to answer … Nancy, we’ll get you, and we’ll fly you back from Italy once you’re the ambassador.” The statements from Jordan and Nehls follow a late-December of 2022 report released by Republicans that blamed Pelosi for the security failures at the Capitol on that day, faulting her for creating “political pressures” that led to lackluster security and inadequate preparations. The New York Post, reporting on that report, said: “Leadership and law enforcement failures within the U.S. Capitol left the complex vulnerable on January 6, 2021,” says the report, which is based on a trove of texts and email messages, and testimony from Capitol Police leaders and rank-and-file officers.

House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, who answered to Pelosi as one of three voting members of the Capitol Police Board, “succumbed to political pressures from the Office of Speaker Pelosi and House Democrat leadership,” was “compromised by politics and did not adequately prepare for violence at the Capitol.” Pelosi and her staff “coordinated closely” with Irving on security plans for the Joint Session of Congress on Jan. 6, but Republicans were deliberately left out of “important discussions related to security.” And, in an apparent attempt to hide from Republicans the fact that they were being excluded from discussions, Irving asked a senior Democratic staffer to “act surprised” when he sent “key information about plans for the Joint Session on Jan. 6, 2021, to him and his Republican counterpart.”

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“..Musk testified that the “funding secured” tweet was “absolutely truthful..”

Musk Wins Lawsuit Over ‘Funding Secured’ Tweet (ZH)

Having previously noted the absurdity of the trial, Elon Musk has defeated a shareholder lawsuit alleging that tweets claiming he had the “funding secured” to take Tesla private cost investors billions of dollars in losses. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the nine-person San Francisco-based jury said the investors who brought the class-action case failed to prove that Mr. Musk hurt them by tweeting about a possible deal. “The jury got it right,” Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, said after the verdict. Musk testified that the “funding secured” tweet was “absolutely truthful,” touting what he described as an “unequivocal” commitment by Saudi Arabia even though he had nothing in writing. As Bloomberg reports, Musk gave jurors other reasons to believe him.

He said he felt compelled to reveal that he was considering taking Tesla private because earlier that day, the Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia was building a sizable stake in Tesla. He testified he was afraid his going-private plans might also be leaked, and that he wanted to put all Tesla investors on equal-footing by broadcasting his plans on Twitter. Musk also said that if required, he could’ve divested his ownership stake in his closely held rocket-ship company, SpaceX, to fund the transaction. This case is unusual for having gone to trial. From 1997 to 2001, less than 0.2% of federal securities class-action cases, excluding those involving mergers or acquisitions, were tried to a verdict, according to Cornerstone Research.

Musk, who had taken the stand as a witness in the case, was present in court during closing arguments. As The FT reports, the “funding secured” tweet has already proven costly for Musk. He and Tesla each paid $20mn to settle legal action from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk also had to resign as the carmaker’s chair, although he kept his position as chief executive. However, Musk has criticized the SEC in the years since, saying he felt pressured to settle and suggesting that doing so made him appear guilty. This case, he said in a deposition, was an opportunity to “clear the record.” And now he has!

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“.. Pfizer BioNTech is going to have to pay back those billions to Thailand, with which Thailand will recompensate those peoples that have lost their existence…”

Thai Princess Coma Mystery – World Expert Says It’s A Covid Jab Injury (DTNZ)

44 year old Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand collapsed while out walking her dogs on 14 december last year. According to sources she had not felt well after receiving her 3rd booster. After her collapse she lost consciousness and remains in a coma. According to a report in The Independent, she is ‘on medical equipment supporting her heart, lungs and kidneys.’ Princess Bajrakitiyabha is the eldest child of current King Rama X. The law graduate is a senior diplomat in the Thai government. The Thai palace confirmed she had suffered a ‘heart issue’. But the explanation given by the authorities and a local university that it was caused by a bacterial infection has been called ‘ridiculous’ by medical expert Professor Sucharit Bhakdi.

Thai-born Bhakdi, a former professor of microbiology at the University of Mainz in Germany had a celebrated career in medical science as a world expert on the immune system and arterial disease, until mainstream narratives and ‘fact checkers’ labelled him a ‘conspiracy theorist’ for his strong opposition to the COVID ‘vaccines’. According to Bhakdi, who claims he and his contacts have been in direct contact with the Thai Royal Family over the matter, the princess’ collapse was an adverse reaction to the COVID jab. She was previously healthy with no known medical conditions. Speaking on the ‘neutralswiss‘ Rumble channel yesterday, Bhakdi said:

“This whole COVID-19 agenda is a fake… And I was able to lay out for them the proof that the COVID vaccinations were based on fraud… The EMA declared that safety pharmacological studies were never performed – never. And they were never deemed necessary. So now we have it. So, when I told the Thais this, you know guys, they jumped up. They jumped up in the room. And so they said to me ‘we will see to it that Thailand is the first country in the world that is going to declare this contract null… Which means that Pfizer BioNTech is going to have to pay back those billions to Thailand, with which Thailand will recompensate those peoples that have lost their existence…”

“‘One daughter of the present king Rama X collapsed and is in a coma… within 23 days after the third shot, 44 years old, never been seriously ill, collapsed and is now in a coma. The diagnosis that was given by the authorities and by the university is so ridiculous – she’s supposed to have a bacterial infection that will never do what she suffered from. And so we are determined, and the activists in Thailand who have been on this many many months now – great guys, also a professor from the University of Bangkok, he’s gotten in touch with the Royal Family, and we are sending information to the Royal Family to alert them to the fact that in all probability the princess is suffering as a victim of this jab, as so many people around the world have been suffering.’

Read more …

Whenever a story this crazy comes along, we suspect something’s hiding behind it.

Biden Announces U.S. Surrender To Chinese Balloon (BBee)

In a surprise statement to the world from the White House Situation Room, President Biden has announced America’s unconditional surrender to the Chinese Spy Balloon. “Listen, folks, it’s over,” said Biden as a single tear ran down his face. “We’re outgunned here. There’s no hope that we can match the awesome power of this giant balloon.” Biden’s voice was drowned out by the dozens of weeping journalists gathered outside the room. “I urge you all to hug your loved ones and embrace your children, for the end is near. God help us all,” Biden finally said before signing off for the last time. At publishing time, Americans had been urged by the administration to start learning Mandarin.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Sika deer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1621524781127573509

 

 

Water is life
https://twitter.com/i/status/1621438461151526912

 

 

Gallop croc
https://twitter.com/i/status/1621580255835181064

 

 

Dog doc
https://twitter.com/i/status/1621730772670349313

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle February 4 2023

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  • #128168

    Henri Matisse Olive trees at Collioure 1906   • Building A New World Order Is Now An Existential Issue For Russia (Trenin) • US-China War By 2025
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle February 4 2023]

    #128169
    Germ
    Participant

    Oooops!

    Olympic bobsledder, 48, dies after suffering a ‘catastrophic’ brain bleed leaving behind his devastated wife and two young sons

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11694223/Olympic-bobsledder-Duncan-Pugh-tragically-dies-suffering-sudden-brain-bleed.html

    Duncan above is a classic case of death-vaxx induced CVT – yet no one will speak it.

    “These findings support a causal association between CVT and the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

    https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-021-06960-5#Tab5

    or

    https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2195

    TVASF

    #128170
    Germ
    Participant

    Heartache as ‘fit and healthy’ young man dies after sudden chest pains at home

    https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1722004/Fit-healthy-man-dies-sudden-chest-pains-home

    TVASF

    #128171
    Germ
    Participant

    Tributes as Cumbria cricketer Arthur Lamb dies aged 31

    “suddenly … in his sleep…”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-64391219.amp

    ☠️☠️☠️

    TVASF

    #128172
    Germ
    Participant

    A great listen.

    Energy depletion, economic collapse, war in Ukraine.

    #128173
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Toon
    Well that’s Ironic timing.

    “Secret CCP Overseas Police Station In NYC Closed After Reported FBI Raid”

    Well, that’s front page news: somebody did something.

    Noting new Leftist shootings most days now. What are we, 25 out of 27?

    Meanwhile, in #OppositeLand:” “Watch: Democrats Oppose Amendment to Recite Pledge of Allegiance; Label Republicans “Insurrectionists”

    The Government is Insurrectioning itself. Will it replace itself with itself? News at 11.

    Fed’s CBDC is ready to rumble and going in beta tests. Like Antifa, an “idea” and conspiracy theory that doesn’t exist. What could be better than Jamie Dimon and the people who gave themselves the largest bonuses in the history of the world after ‘08, total life and death control over the rest of us? I’m all in. I DEFINITELY want to get government permission and pay taxes on all those yard sales which I can totally do since I have a credit card machine right here by the coffeemaker.

    They’ve been working on getting that laaaaaaaast penny from the laaaaaaast poorest people, getting rid of cash:
    “Is Tipping Getting Out of Control? Many Consumers Say Yes.” –AP News

    “ US-China War By 2025: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? (Fomenko)”

    Thinking so much about this. So, you had the war planned, Front A is gone bad, you always planned to open Front B, so you do it now for some reason? Or because you can’t be seen losing, and know the support of China is a large pillar of Russia’s (and the Global South’s) success and independence? Or because they need to collapse the U.S. as run by China and any attack in Asia will be so “Bay of Pigs”, the Some Random Guido, landing 10 men and a Yugo in Venezuela, that the failure HELPS China, and China WANTS and in fact NEEDS us to attack? Bribes, reports, and PAYS us to attack? They can then sue peace, take CA, OR, WA, and reparations in food while the home team dumps the guns and Constitution?

    Let me add this: soooo, what was the last time a powerful nation had an unlimited peace treaty but voluntarily opened a two-front war? How’d that go for him?

    Note China is now openly spy-hacking all the U.S. with the balloon. Why isn’t that a “Stingray” re-routing every cell phone call? Hacking every device in 20 states? I would. Way more than just viewing all our nuclear silos, although they have that too. We don’t shoot it down. Sooooo, I presume we are sending a “weather balloon” over all China tomorrow, right? They won’t shoot it down or nothin’, right?

    All men are bad. All white men are especially bad. They deserve to die. Therefore the U.S. is bad and we deserve to die. We have no rights, no sovereignty, and no right to self defense. (but you, the “Special people”, do)

    “It is up to the government in Kiev to decide how to use the new rockets for the US-supplied HIMARS launchers, the Pentagon said”

    Cool. What HIMARS? For the 2-3 HIMARS remaining, good luck. However this is an exceptional escalation, way past tanks. I guess the tanks didn’t cause WWIII fast enough, despite Joe’s promise.

    “Though the new weapons could take up to nine months to reach the Ukrainian battlefield,” And we’re going to send one of them, but a glossy picture of a few others.

    a trashed health system for 40 million in poverty”

    Point well taken and he could hardly exaggerate the desperation here, but that sentence is wrong: being in poverty is the only way to GET health care. You’d have to be way above the median income, maybe six figures to afford it otherwise. Remember, we provide healthcare to the sick, broken, old, and insane, but not to the healthy, young, and productive. …They have to become broke and insane first. “From each according to their ability…”

    the end of a 300-year period when Russia was enamoured with the West. Now Western deceit means that Russians have lost their illusions and naivety for ever.”

    Actually…sounds like the American Revolution, and for the same reasons. Leaving Europe to become something new and a culture of their own. Hmmmm. Hope you have better luck than we did. They tried to recapture in only 12 years, then after 100 eventually did.

    Only through such a crushing defeat for Western hubris can further crazy adventures,”

    Who wins in that “Crushing defeat”? Not Russia, they merely are left alone. No, China. And our owners. Europe, if they survive, ruling us with the UN, WHO, and WEF. And our own traitors, erasing the Constitution and social contract with the people as they already said so and already have. “Can’t we just drone strike this reporter?” Can’t we just imprison this publisher for life without trial? You’re next. Only this time for going to yard sales without the CBDC.

    “UK MIlitary Could Run out of Ammo in Single Afternoon – Ex-commander (RT)

    So they have the ammo and manpower of Bolivia? Sounds about right. Who wins if Britain loses? The same people buying all our politicians and media?

    A few years ago RAND put out a report Overextending and Unbalancing Russia.”

    This is the kind of white paper I talk about all the time. Then everyone says, “No they didn’t.” Yes, they did. They publicly say what they are going to do, because they know you’re illiterate, won’t read it, do nothing, then complain, attacking me saying “we never did nothin’”. Sure pal. Read a book. I promise it’s 6th grade reading since glue-sniffers can’t do more. Event 201. Cyber Polygon. Recent nuclear ads and radiation drugs.

    The Arsenal of Democracy Isn’t (Schryver)”

    I’d say we have no steel, but a lot of modern weapons don’t use it but 10,000 minor alloys. The men can’t be drafted as they are not healthy enough to cross the street. And it’s not just them that are illiterate and untrustworthy but their leaders too.

    failures to which they claim she is connected.”

    WTF? The Speaker is in TOTAL charge of D.C. She delegates a lot to the Mayor, etc, but the National Guard and security is 100% on her desk. “These silly people CLAIM the fire department puts out fires.” They do.

    44 year old Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand collapsed while out walking her dogs

    So, ye royal Doctors don’t review a d—n thing before attending the Royal Princess? You don’t want “studies” and “Evidence” of product safety? You’re not fired: you’re hanged. After their corpses are black on the 4th week, then maybe we can turn to Pfizer.

    Alligators can gallop. …And are tasty. Must be why you should keep your guns.

    Note: the best possible state for the Engineers is for all of us to be animals. To be savages living in huts. Why? Think of the abuse you can heap on! Why it would be better than landing like Conquistador Cortes, killing all 1 Million Indians with your bare hands, you’d be like a Space Age, an Alien Race re-landing on a primitive planet.

    As you have space lasers, flying cars, genetic engineering and ICBMs and they have rocks, you can to ANYTHING you want, FOREVER. More than even the Hunger Games. You thought Epstein was able to steal girls from Minnesota Band Camp? You ain’t seen nothin’. You can kill anyone, rape anyone, destroy anyone, treat them as slaves, animals, experiments, ANYTHING.

    This is Le Plus Maximum, the APEX, the pinnacle of control-over. The height and ultimate in mental illness. .
    …And it still wouldn’t be enough.

    But does that explain why WE have to be animals, live in huts and walk everywhere while the Very Important People fly private jets to private islands, with private yachts? Food imported from Japan while you scratch the earth with your fingernails for maggots, you filthy animal? Because THEY are the ones with the “Secret Knowledge.” They are the “Enlightened Ones” who “Know”.

    That’s what the word “Illuminati” means. And the club. It’s not like they’re hiding it, they tell you because you’ll happily sell your car, lose your gun, and ride a bike, making yourself more helpless than a hamster for them. All they have to do is tell you words. Poof! Magic.

    So please go do their work for them, impoverish, disarm, and cripple yourself. It will be so much easier for them when they arrive in Christchurch looking for you.

    #128174
    Germ
    Participant

    The same Government that says it doesn’t want to poke a hole in the Experimental Chinese Spy Balloon because it might injure people …

    Is the same Government that had no problems poking holes in people’s arm with an experimental gene therapy for a Chinese Virus.

    TVASF

    #128175
    Germ
    Participant

    Just listen to this monster Hotez.
    Likely to be Fauci’s successor.

    The sick irony is that his own daughter, Rachel, is severely autistic.
    He most certainly pumped her full of childhood vaxxes, and god knows what else.

    He’s such a wanker that he even wrote a book in denial of it all:

    TVASF

    #128176
    Germ
    Participant

    Kees Van Der Pijl on why Russia won’t lose in Ukraine

    https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-z9596-137ebe1

    Van Der Pijl was Sussex University’s former Professor Of International Politics

    #128177
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Hb-jb, here’s fodder for your mill: https://bigthink.com/thinking/bonhoeffers-theory-stupidity-evil/
    “Bonhoeffer’s “theory of stupidity”: We have more to fear from stupid people than evil ones”

    Among the long, long list of people to kill, are the goods ones. …Who are slightly lacking in some other way.
    Better, “They”, the “Smart ones” our given “superiors” have to fight and destroy both the evil AND the stupid, being of course, “Totally right” and “Practically perfect in every way.”

    “reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.”

    Not only that, as you can see, if they don’t OBEY you, they are by definition DANGEROUS. Ohhhh. They go “on the attack”!!! By saying – follow me here – WORDS. Wrong words. That you would have to HEAR. With your ears. Am I right here, or what?

    “The problem with stupidity, though, is that it often goes hand-in-hand with power. Bonhoeffer writes,”

    So the problem isn’t the stupidity, it’s THAT I DON’T HAVE UNLIMITED POWER. They shouldn’t have it: I should.

    Actually Bonhoeffer writes, “Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity.”

    I couldn’t agree more. It’s just that it’s people like HIM that are the stupid, powerful, and infectious ones.

    “stupidity does not disbar you from holding office or authority. History and politics are swimming with examples of when the stupid have risen to the top (and where the smart are excluded or killed).”

    Sound like Socialism yet? “We, the smart ones keep being outsmarted insert excuse here by these dumb people nearly all the time. But although Johnny Nascar with a whiffle bat can outsmart us 9 times out of 10, WE ARE STILL THE SMART PEOPLE. We should be in charge where everyone worships us and does whatever we say all day, and nothing else, Mister. We deserve it. ” N. P. D. Where even the dumbest NPD people that ever walked the earth 80IQ (it happens) simply cannot believe their Doctor, Psychiatrist, and the County Judge are smarter than them and have seen it before. Nope.

    So put them in charge. With an attitude like that, what could go wrong? We MUST raise the people who don’t deserve it naturally, and remove FROM the people who did rise to power ‘naturally’. That’s the Anti-Meritocracy we all lie awake and dream of.

    the lesson from Bonhoeffer is …we should get angry and scared” Really? What an amazingly productive and intelligent response.

    Speaking of idiots, the author “Jonny Thomson teaches philosophy in Oxford.” Well that explains it. Get this man a shovel.

    And all the links on the bottom of the site:
    “Nietzsche both wished he was as stupid as a cow so he wouldn’t have to contemplate existence, and pitied cows for being so stupid that they couldn’t contemplate existence.”

    Sound like Animals who are not Animals theory? Btw Don’t read Nietzsche or you’ll end up dumber than you started. I always make my heroes and models desperately unhappy people who produce nothing, have a breakdown, and end up committing suicide. That’s just common sense to emulate the truly “Smart” people like that instead dumb people who have peace, prosperity, and “deliver the goods.”

    P.s. the Nietzsche article ends in a far better giggle-fest about SETI and the definition of intelligent life being “That which must use radio™” What are the odds? Even better, it points out with all the new AI’s, “What is Intelligence?” Nobody has the fainest idea. Pretty hard to make one then. Or easy. An abacus is Intelligent. I’ve got your green ecological AI right here.

    Speaking of, the Woke GPT shows that AI will be the easiest thing on the planet to defeat and dismember. We know exactly what they think, what they get wrong (a lot), and where their (enormous) blind spots are. Now all we have to do is use that to get them to blow themselves up like Nietzsche: spectacularly, without me having to do a thing.

    #128178
    oxymoron
    Participant

    That dog must have had all it’s shots to be allowed in hospital all that time. Hope the little guy doesn’t get any clots.

    The water thing showed in every instance the source – the top of the catchment was where the power was. Security comes from that position which is why I chose my place – top of the valley. Yeah sure it may only have 600 mm in a year and be very shallow soil with low fertility but water is it!
    3 dams. 1 big one of around a million litres and two very small ones for holding up high to get the spring watering done. Then the big one for summer. Growing trees, growing fruit. Looking good.

    #128179
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Building A New World Order Is Now An Existential Issue For Russia (Trenin)

    Thi sis bollocks. The interesting factors at the moment are the random statements from NATO, one minute admitting that they do not have an economy to fight the fight, the next saying that they will defeat Russia.

    Consider this viewpoint: Russia is the strongest force on the planet, they are attacked by NATO who know that Russia is the strongest force, so they use Ukraine to do their fighting, they are afraid of Russia, the UK hates Russia, because Russia is known to be the strongest force on the planet, and NATO lose their proxy war. Russia could, but does not, destroy Ukraine, it is seen by Russia as an inferior force that is causing trouble. Russia is just not prepared to destroy Ukraine, the Ukraine used to be part of the USSR, they are not going to indiscriminately kill masses of their ex-comrades, regardless of how much the west wants them to. The west’s idea is that the people in the west will support the war if Russia goes crazy. But Russia knows it is the superior force, it has been preparing for this all the while the west has been shipping its manufacturing base to China, an ally of Russia and capable of producing all the arms that Russia needs in a year, in one day. NATO is seen by Russia as irrelevant, but Russia needs the rest of the world to see that. Russia is succeeding in its mission, Russia is disassembling NATO. People in the west need to understand that all that propaganda on NATO being the best, is bullshit, the rest of the world knows that Russia is the best.

    #128180
    oxymoron
    Participant

    The strongest force on the planet is the Iron Bank. Russian citizens are just as paranoid as we are about CBDC’s and gov surveillance and control. There is a lot more lockstep going on WITH Russia and China than we allow ourselves to believe.

    #128181
    aspnaz
    Participant

    American Four-Star General Mike Minihan, head of the US Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC) believes the US and China will go to war by 2025.

    Why? What are they fighting for? What is the dispute? Taiwan? The USA will never sacrifice US soldiers for Taiwan, only a clown in Ukraine would believe that bullshit. Maybe the fight is for democracy, but the USA has not had democracy for over 70 years. So what would the USA be fighting for? Do the USA believe that they can occupy China, a country the same size as the USA but with a population way higher than the USA. Look at this logically, each US citizen, whether two years old or 102 years old would be required to go to China to guard four Chinese people. Empty the USA to occupy China, they are just stupid enough to try to do this, but it won’t actually happen. And once they have China, what do they think will happen? If only we still had journalists, in the old days a journalist would have asked these questions, but nowadays the media people are busy being dog turds on a concrete path, totally forgetable.

    #128182
    aspnaz
    Participant

    @oxymoron I totally agree with your statement, my life in Hong Kong is way easier than when I go to China. The Chinese have a different way of thinking to the HK people, I have not worked out a simple way to explain how, but I will. Russia and China are dictatorships, but fortunately at the moment that serves our purposes, especially as both have reasonable leaders on the foreign stage. But how do these reasonable leaders behave back home, where media is controlled and limited news escapes the borders. Russia is less scary than China, which is very scary, which is why people would rather work in China but live in HK.

    #128183
    tboc
    Participant

    The cultural bias is strong this morning. Opposite land – We’re the worst, We’re the greatest. It’s them what done it.
    A bioweapon was released, pointing a finger at this point is pure conjecture. Dating the weapon to the January 2020 date of notification is ignoring evidence of infection around the globe prior to that date. The Islamic Republic of Iran has no problem identifying a culprit. Crickets? Doesn’t fit the narrative?

    A Chinese spy balloon, a Chinese meteorological research vehicle. Pivot East, War with China in two years. We’re the worst, We’re the greatest. It’s them what done it.

    #128186
    EoinW
    Participant

    I read that Biden ordered the spy balloon shot down and the military refused to do it.

    If that’s true then we can expect the Pentagon to veto WW3. It must understand what a paper tiger their military is and the only way to preserve its reputation is to not fight. Like they didn’t fight Iran January 2020.

    It will be interesting to see how the NeoCons escalate WW3 when neither party wants to dance.

    #128187
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Progress is Our Most Important Product

    .

    .

    #128188
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Larry Johnson has a good take on the Chinese Spy balloon.

    Seems that balloons are a legal grey area in international law as long as they are high enough

    The Empire of Lies has them ner/over China and other places around the world and doesn’t want the precedent set of shooting them down to go viral.

    Haha

    Here’s Larry’s take:

    More on the High Flying Balloons


    #128189
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #128190
    Germ
    Participant

    Yup – it’s just another mysterious “dies in sleep” and “healthy”.
    Good God!

    Mystery as healthy man suddenly dies in sleep just days before 22nd birthday

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mystery-healthy-man-suddenly-dies-29112417

    TVASF

    #128191
    greco
    Participant

    Back in ’70 when I was a member of the US occupying army in Europe, They, our superiors told us that if the Russians attacked, they would overrun us in 3 days. And when the Russians got to the Rhine the US would unleash nukes which were waiting west of the Rhine. That was the plan then 50 years ago. Doesn’t seem to have been upgraded much.
    A German friend, a cynic told me that the reason for NATO was that the US wanted to do their nuclear war over in Europe instead of at home.
    By the way, back in Roman times, Germany’s western border was the Rhine. The Rhine was also the Eastern border of the Roman empire.
    In the futue can we imagine that the Russian empire ends at the Rhine?

    #128192
    zerosum
    Participant

    Name the ways
    • From Imperial Failures to Imperial Excuses (Batiushka)

    It’s too late to choose. Plow or swords?

    “hollowed out and underfunded.”
    “outstanding modern equipment,” but cautioned that without experienced personnel, ammunition, and spare parts they might turn out to be just a “glittering shop window”

    RAND GETS IT, SORT OF BY HELMHOLTZ SMITH


    RAND GETS IT, SORT OF BY HELMHOLTZ SMITH
    2 February 2023 by HELMHOLTZ SMITH

    RAND recommends a change in Western policy. Peace, not war, Hahahaha! It’s too late.

    Don’t bother reading the thing – the only interesting bit is the very tiny step towards accepting the failure of the proxy war in Ukraine that RAND helped start and a trial balloon for the cover story (Russia won but it cost it so much it that we really won).”
    ————–

    #128193
    those darned kids
    Participant

    sometimes i can only see comments if i post a comment..

    so,

    ¡¡¡SPYBALLOON!!!

    #128194
    those darned kids
    Participant

    germ: ralph baric isn’t chinese.

    #128195
    zerosum
    Participant

    Un diplomatic ‘peace proposal’
    “Say, how about you guys taking 20% of Ukraine, and the U.S. will keep the other 80% as our Nazi dictatorship puppet state on your border? What do you say to that offer?”

    #128196
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Comic Relief

    Had a lot of critters in my life, there’s always a dare devil to the rescue

    #128197
    Noirette
    Participant

    Ukraine.

    Looking at links I saved in 2014-15, the crucial ‘change’ times, a statis until 2022,
    stands out:

    Sergei Glazyev, interview, eng subs. 10 mins.

    Mass Draft Evasion Shows Maidan Ukraine Is a Failing State.

    https://russia-insider.com/en/2015/02/03/3083

    5 Reasons Arming Ukraine Won’t Work. From The National Interest.

    https://bit.ly/3wSlLYy

    The US House of Representatives Openly Calls for Regime Change in Moscow.

    https://bit.ly/3RzyvwP

    This short paper from the Oakland Institute, 2014,

    The Corporate Take – over of Urk. Agri. is probably the most important.

    https://bit.ly/3RETRZG

    #128198
    Red
    Participant

    @dr-d Interesting you brought up the “Bonhoeffer’s “theory of stupidity”. It was sent to me just yesterday by a friend and only read it this morning before hopping over to TAE. My take on it is he confuses stupidity with ignorance. The fact that his brother didn’t know reindeer existed doesn’t mean he’s dumb. Did also think caribou weren’t real? Maybe he also thinks like Homer Simpson and ham, bacon and pork are three different animals! Ignorance of something is no sign of stupidity, it’s a lack of certain subject knowledge nothing more. To laugh at it without informing the other is at least cruel and may actually point to those who do the laughing as being the stupid ones. The ones who strive for positions of power tend to be crafty, sly and accomplished liars, far from stupid. You may have touched on the real problem when pointing out the author is from an ivy league university. It would seem those people have few if any clues of what life is really like outside of their tower. As well as the fact they tend to only rub elbows with like individuals. Hard to any reasonable conclusions about life outside your golden palace if you never experience it in any meaningful fashion. Never trust a millionaire or especially their offspring. No working concept of the lower classes. Common people dance and drink and screw because there’s nothing else to do.

    #128199

    “”In 1945, the crew of USS New York spotted a sphere that they thought might be a Japanese balloon weapon. The captain ordered it shot down but none of the guns could score a hit. Finally, a navigator realized they were attacking Venus.””

    #128200
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Tucker Carlson Tonight War With China Jimmy Dore January 31 2023

    #128201
    Noirette
    Participant

    To go back further in time, from a diplo US cable in *2006*, published by WikiLeaks:

    The controversy in Feodosiya surrounding the arrival of U.S. military reservists had been one result. Despite Feodosiya, Horbulin declared the Ukrainian government (GOU) would stay the course with regard to NATO membership; PM-candidate Yuliya Tymoshenko also supported Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic course.

    (…)

    Considered by many to be Ukraine’s top strategic thinker, Horbulin agreed with former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski’s view, as related by Ambassador, that the relationship with Ukraine is one of the USG’s top four strategic relations worldwide because of the impact that Ukraine’s strategic orientation, whether to the West or to Russia, would have on Russia’s internal development.

    see the whole cable, https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06KIEV2590_a.html

    #128202
    Germ
    Participant

    The death-vaxxed have turned their very own bodies into Spike factories.
    Good grief:

    TVASF

    #128203
    Germ
    Participant

    Where did Pfizer/Moderna get the sequence for their death vaxx Spike?
    China says Fauci !!

    https://t.me/downtherabbitholewegofolks/63997

    TVASF

    #128204
    Red
    Participant

    “In his book Crowds and Power, written in 1960, Nobel laureate Elias Canetti argues that fear leads people to devolve into pack behavior. Fear of the virus did just that, leading people to set aside their basic humanity and common sense.

    Remember the mother who put her 13-year-old son in the trunk of her car? The boy had tested positive for the virus and she was taking him for additional testing. To protect herself from exposure, she had him lie in the trunk while she drove him to the testing site. “What she did is antithetical to every maternal instinct we have,” says podcaster Trish Wood in a post-Rogan interview with Desmet. “For a mother to put her own fear…above the care and comfort of a kid… I mean, really?”

    Or how about this one? Paramedics wouldn’t let a 19-year-old man with meningitis symptoms into the hospital until he tested negative for Covid. The staff was “so psychotically attached to the Covid narrative,” to use Wood’s phrasing, that they disregarded his obviously alarming symptoms. When his parents took him to the ER a second time, he was so weak they had to carry him to the car. Hospital staff refused to let him in, and the young man died.19

    Can people read stories like this and not conclude the virus vigilantes were under a spell?”

    I can add one to this, my wife sustained a nasty dog bite to the face and was slipping in and out of consciousness. When the paramedics arrived they would not administer any meds for the pain until she answered all of the protocol questions about covid. I still have a bone to pick over that one.

    The Madness of Crowds

    #128205
    zerosum
    Participant

    I don’t want any more pain. Tell me lies.

    #128206

    RIM- did she surrender?

    #128207
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I think that’s what struck me about the article: Well WE, the smart people know everything there is to know and are always right. Oh DO you now? So when I dig a pond in your backyard in this particular subsoil should one start with a bulldozer or an excavator? Chop chop, clock’s ticking. So when I tow these back to the garage, should I use a Tesla Model S or a Prius? Seems the towing capacity is somewhat under the 67,000 pounds required. Tell me more about outlawing engines.

    Add to plumbing, planting, harvesting, sewing, roofing, doctoring, stocking, call answering, teching, archeology, linguistics, and there’s just about EVERY Thing that they are also “stupid” about. As you say, ignorant, but it’s more than that. It’s not knowing what you don’t know that makes a fool. And defines an expert, actually. It’s not RESPECTING how little you know, and how much others do know. And he was determined to be the decider, the arbiter of all right, and judgement of all wrong. You know, like an online fact checker.

    A man may not know reindeer are real because he’s been busy doing his own work. So much trash and made-up stuff in the news, who WOULD know? But this gentleman doesn’t respect that in addition to how he doesn’t know almost everything, while somebody else does, he doesn’t realize that practically everything he DOES know is also wrong. I can’t prove that but I’d bet and easy $500 on it. Why? Because if he’d ever come face to face with it, as economics majors who try to trade stocks, or archaeologists that attempt to live the way their digs did, you’d IMMEDIATELY know that practically everything you heard in school, read in the paper, or saw on TV is wrong. It gives a permanent altered color to the world. Then your great plans of being the smart guy and decider, arbiter of all things goes right up in smoke.

    #128208
    Germ
    Participant

    “Why is DOD (US Government, all Western globalist governments) acting against the people, killing and injuring the population”? The answer is largely in the creation of money.”

    “The current war on the people is part of the restructuring that the globalist “owners” (owners of the central banks) are attempting – going direct reset and attempted CBDCs.”

    https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/why-are-they-doing-it

    TVASF

    #128209
    Germ
    Participant

    A beautiful collapse montage.

    TVASF

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